Saying Goodbye

I´ve never liked goodbyes, I usually don´t know what to say and thus feel awkward. Saying bye to people you know you will see soon is no big deal, but it´s when you say goodbye to people you probably will never see again, that it gets weird. Sometimes I would prefer to just not say goodbye, to avoid the sadness and inevitable end.

This week has been full of despedidas (goodbyes), and I know my friends have been experiencing the same thing. It can be overwhelming when every other hour you are the center of attention and receiving all these cards, hugs, questions, etc. As overwhelming as it can me, I love it though, I can´t say I do not appreciate it all.

I will miss the faces of the high school teachers as I pass them in the hall way, they always give me these tired, ¨what can you do¨type of faces, they obviously are counting down the hours until the bell rings, everyday. The teachers are out of here as fast as the students are. It makes me think back to The Simpsons, how the teachers were shown as miserable and tired. In a positive light, it´s funny. The teachers here are tired and deal with a lot, but they still do it, because they like to teach and ultimately care about the future of the students. Most of them.

Today is my last day at the high school Sierra Minera, I´m on my hour break. I just had three consecutive goodbye parties, and managed to get my Thailand presentation in there as well. The students really enjoyed it, they got to see something different. They have had so many presentations about the U.S.A. and are bombarded with it through films, news, etc. So I think it was good to show them a different side of the world, and all of them knew where Thailand was! A lot of people in the U.S. think that when I say I´m Thai, that I am friend Taiwan. Ignorance at its best. We ate food and talked. They classes each made me these huge cards and they all signed it. I took videos of the oldest students saying what they liked about this year.

My Spanish teacher cried.

I thought that after she started to cry in class that I would start to cry in class! But I didn´t. She has been the best mentor this year, and her family is amazing. Every Friday (including today) I go to eat lunch with them and then give an hour lesson to each of her two fantastic kids. I will definitely go back to visit them. I have to, they have been so kind to me. I hope that in some impossible way I can go visit my 3ª group of students in Germany this December. They will have an exchange with German students! They speak in English with each other, and the Germans already came this past April to our school. That would be amazing.

I had to buy a small suitcase, it´s super Euro. All of the people use them as carry on luggage to fit in as much as possible without paying Check-In fees at the airport. I still have a lot of packing, cleaning, throwing away, to do tonight. Tomorrow I go to my last paella lunch at Cafe Mitico and then I´m off to Madrid! Then off to Italy! It will all go by so fast!

Stay tuned for my Spain video :)

Less than a month left in Cartagena

I skyped my parents for 2 hours last night, much needed. I would say I am ready to go home in a little over a month. My time here in Spain is done. After living here for a semester in Madrid and then 9 months in the south, made me realize maybe this country isn´t for me. I guess I could try the north, but I already know I couldn´t stand the rain. 5 years in Humboldt County taught me that. I think one of the good ways to judge if you fit well into a country is how your body physically reacts to it. My body for example, I feel has gone downhill. My skin is always dry, my sinuses are always irritated, I´ve had tummy problems so many times, and so on. When I lived in Ecuador I was so healthy! Well besides the stomach virus but that was cured with medicine within a week. In Morocco I could feel my body functioning better too. Also, as much as I like Spanish food, there is little diversity here. I need diverse food choices, and good food choices. Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Ethiopian, Indian, Korean, as well as diverse people. I guess in Madrid it´s more diverse, but still doesn´t measure up to the Bay Area.

My plan is to travel to as many countries as possible and see if I truly fit well into any of them. That´s the best way to figure out where you should live I think. And if there´s no other place where I really feel at home. there´s always the Bay.

We got back from Ibiza on Sunday night, after 6 days of beaches, parties, excursions, cars, boats, and fun people. It  wasn´t high season though, so I can only imagine how it is in the summer. Most of the people there seemed younger, 19 or 20 years old. It was really fun don´t get me wrong, but I think I´m too old for that stuff/have already had my years of partying. Who know´s though, maybe I´ll go back for a real summer experience.

I have less than a month in Cartagena, then I go to Madrid to drop my stuff of, then head to Italy for a week. I was thinking of making another trip this month for a weekend, but I don´t want to spend the money and also, there´s a lot of things I want to do here that I haven´t done yet. I want to hike Roldan, spend a day at Cabo de Palos and the market, take the ferry from La Manga to the other side of the bay, try a few new tapas places, go to Jumilla for a wine tour, and just enjoy this region. The time will go by fast, it already has. Man, can´t believe it´s almost over.

But can´t wait to see my bros and go to Fentons!!!